Agent Education: Steve Gallagher

On Thursday, June 20th, CORE Madison Avenue’s third “Walking Tour” once again offered agents further insight into the Upper East Side’s real estate market. Since the opening of CORE’s Madison Avenue office in April, Director of Sales Reba Miller has been at the forefront on building CORE’s presence in the Upper East Side neighborhood; for Reba, the walking tours are an excellent way of both challenging agents to learn more about the area as well as one another.

Steve Gallagher was assigned The Olympic Tower at 641 Fifth Ave, where he was responsible for presenting the history, floor plans, recent sales and other unique details of the property. Known as one of the prime real estate locations for the “glitterati” of the 1980’s, a brief history of the property revealed that the building was designed by the architectural firm of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill. The building was built and owned in part by the Onnasis family and was the first tower on 5th Avenue with mixed commercial and residential space. Notable residents of Olympic Tower include Adnan Khashoggi, Helene Rochas, and the famed Gucci family.

“I never realized Olympic Tower was the ‘IT’ building for the Studio 54 crowd prior to my research,” said Steve. “Walking tours are not only a learning experience about the building itself, but it forces our brokers to know their product better than anyone else. It’s also a social experience, which is a nice break from a hectic day.”

Before the walking tour, Olympic Tower was merely a building Steve passed from time to time. “I now realize that it’s the perfect building for a European buyer because of the nature of the shopping and location in the central business district, which is highly-sought after by foreign buyers.”

An informal recap at the end of the tour proved that the agents gained a great deal of knowledge from one another. Said Steve, “Most of all, I realized Tony Sargent can wear a suit jacket in 90 degree weather and not break a sweat!”